QatarEnergy continues international expansion with Brazil move

QatarEnergy has won a key participating interest in Brazil’s Agua Marinha offshore block, which was offered by the country’s hydrocarbons regulator ANP.

The Qatari giant on Monday confirmed the award and said it was made under the first cycle permanent offer round by ANP.

QatarEnergy will hold a 20% working interest in the production sharing contract and associated agreements, with Brazil’s state controlled Petrobras holding a 30% operating stake, French supermajor TotalEnergies holding 30% and Malaysian state oil company Petronas on 20%, it added.

The Agua Marinha block covers 1300 square kilometres in water depths of about 2000 metres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the prolific Campos Basin, QatarEnergy said.

The Qatari company has been expanding its international portfolio in recent years, picking up stakes in South American and North African upstream assets.

A consortium comprising TotalEnergies, Petronas and QatarEnergy earlier submitted the winning bid for the Agua Marinha area, offering a profit oil share for the federal government of 42.4% and defeating a proposal of 39.5% submitted by Petrobras and UK supermajor Shell, Upstream reported.

However, as Petrobras months ago had exercised its preferential rights for Agua Marinha with a minimum 30% stake and had a 30-minute window to decide whether or not to join the higher-bidding consortium and take over as operator.

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Petrobras opted to enter the winning consortium, taking its 30% operatorship at Agua Marinha.

QatarEnergy chief executive Saad Sherida Al Kaabi said the latest successful joint bid, adds further “highly prospective acreage” to its upstream portfolio in Brazil, particularly in the prolific Campos basin.

“We are delighted to achieve this success with our valued partners Petrobras, TotalEnergies and Petronas,” he said.

Petronas vice president of exploration, Mohd Redhani Abdul Rahman said: “We are truly thrilled by the favourable outcome of the bid round. This success demonstrates our competitive edge in sustainably developing and monetising assets in the Campos basin.

“Petronas remains focused to unlock more value from the assets with its partners alongside the host authorities,” he added.

QatarEnergy noted the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2023, and further establishes the company as one of the leading upstream players in Brazil, where it already holds working interests in two producing fields and numerous exploration blocks.

Petronas’ subsidiary PPBL recently announced the first oil discovery with the 4-BRSA-1386D-RJS well in the pre-salt Sepia oilfield in the Santos basin. It has a 21% participating interest in the field.